Brexit Britain should lead the way by banning mass antibiotic use in agriculture, says top doctors

British farmers are already reducing antibiotic use CREDIT: LEON NEAL/AFPHenry Bodkin 14 NOVEMBER 2016 Britain should use the opportunity afforded by Brexit to lead the world in banning the routine mass use of antibiotics in farming, the country’s top doctors have said.The heads of 12 royal medical colleges, as well as the Faculty of Public Health, the British Medical Association and two leading health journals, today call on the Government to step up the fight against antimicrobial resistance (AMR) by prohibiting preventative prescription of medicines on animals. Writing in The Daily Telegraph, they say the UK is now in a “unique position” to introduce a ban.

The intervention comes weeks after a Cambridge University study found that a quarter of supermarket chicken contained antibiotic-resistant e.coli, a bug that can lead to kidney failure and in severe cases death.In May a Government-commissioned report led by Lord Jim O’Neill said the rise of drug-resistant superbugs threatened to return medicine to the “dark ages” by rendering impotent swathes of commonly used antibiotics. The report said a cause of AMR was the slapdash use of antibiotics by agricultural vets across the world.In March the European Parliament voted to ban mass agricultural medication, however the measure is subject to approval by member states and the European Commission.

E.coli can cause kidney failure and death CREDIT: TELEGRAPHToday’s letter, whose signatories include the presidents of the Royal College of Physicians and the Royal Medical Society, says: “The Government is now in a unique position to put these recommendations into practice as part of a post-EU Referendum strategy for UK agriculture.“Around 90 per cent of all UK veterinary antibiotic use is for mass medication of groups of animals. The recent discovery of antibiotic resistant E. coli and MRSA on UK-origin meat from major supermarkets is the latest sign that such practices are undermining the efficacy of our antibiotics.”Last night a spokesman for the Department of Environment, Food and Rural Affairs said tackling AMR was a “top priority”, but stopped short of promising a ban.The campaign group Responsible Use of Medicines in Agriculture Alliance (RUMA), which includes the National Farmers Union among its members, said a ban could harm animal welfare.Gwyn Jones, chairman of the organisation, said the O’Neil report encompassed global farming, but that northern European practices were far more advanced than the worldwide average.“We’re already using a lot less antibiotics and we are making huge efforts to see how we can improve things further,” he said. “This problem is not going to be solved by human medicine and the animal side slagging each other off - we need to work together.”Royal College of General Practitioners chair Maureen Baker, who also signed the letter, said the ban should include prescribing antibiotics to healthy animals in a pen or enclosure where one or more other animals has fallen ill.But RUMA believes vets end up prescribing more antibiotics if they don’t act to prevent infection and a whole herd is then affected.A spokesman for DEFRA said: “We are already making good progress in the UK and have set out a clear commitment to significantly reduce the level of antibiotic use in livestock. AMR is a global issue, and the Government is taking a lead in the international effort to tackle it, including a landmark UN declaration where all 193 countries agreed to take action.”The letter was coordinated by the Alliance to Save our Antibiotics and Medact.Emma Rose, a spokeswoman for the group, said: "Welcome steps have been taken by some farming sectors to limit veterinary prescribing. But by continuing to permit the routine mass medication of livestock, the government risks undermining this progress."The cost of inaction is set to fall heavily on the shoulders of the NHS and the medical community. The government must now listen to, and act on, their concerns.” Brexit Britain should lead the way by banning mass antibiotic use in agriculture, says top doctors...

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